ACROSS cities in Pakistan, new restau-rants and cafes pop up every other day, each competing to outdo the other with striking interiors, neon lights, flower walls, and picture-perfect plating. These places are often designed less for dining and more for photographing, where the aesthetic is the real product on sale.

Yet, what is consistently overlooked is the very essence of a restaurant: its food. Too often the dishes are bland, repetitive and tasteless, but the crowds still pour in, not drawn by flavour but by the promise of an aesthetic experience worth posting online. Dining out has quietly shifted from being about taste and quality to becoming an exercise in branding oneself through curated images.

This fixation risks hollowing out our food culture. Pakistan has a rich and diverse culinary heritage, full of depth, spice and history. It is disheartening to see this richness sidelined in favour of style over substance. A restaurant’s ambience should complement its food, not overshadow it.

Perhaps it is time we, as diners, realigned our expectations. If we reward originality, taste and authenticity as much as we do aesthetics, the industry will have to follow suit. Our meals deserve to be remembered for their flavour, not just their photographs.

Abdul Qadir Qureshi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2025